Abstract
The term surveillance denotes monitoring in order to gather data and information on the behaviours and activities of targeted individuals and groups. However, in today’s digitally-connected world surveillance is no longer the exclusive domain of those with power and advanced technology. Members of the public now regularly upload photographic and audio-visual images and make them available to online audiences. And today individuals are under surveillance as never before through ownership of mobile phones and laptops, leading to what Shoshana Zuboff refers to as ‘surveillance capitalism’, a new economic order that appropriates and archives human experience as free raw material for hidden commercial practices of extraction, prediction and sales. Data has value both because of its predictive power and because it can shape the behaviours of individuals; what they will purchase and how they will vote. This research examines some of the new geographies of surveillance that have emerged through data collection and algorithmic analysis. The case studies presented include the influence on voters in the United Kingdom and the United States and the work of the citizens’ group Bellingcat. The paper considers the ramifications of the Internet for personal privacy and examines the asymmetry of power between citizens and the Internet tech giants. The Internet companies and others who gather data know plenty about us, which gives them the power to influence our behaviour, but we know nothing on how this data is gathered and used.
Presenters
David HumphreysProfessor, Geography, The Open University, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Vectors of Society and Culture
KEYWORDS
Connectivity, Digital Geography, Influence, Power, Privacy, Surveillance
